Tiny1Nisolet

Can you explain what this is exactly? How do you find out if there is one in your area? Please forgive my ignorance. Thanks so much!

There is no sleeping on my unit either...well except for the babies, of course. We do have nurses that sleep on their lunch break, however. I do not have a problem with it. Sometimes all you need is a 15 minute cat nap to get you through the rest of the shift. Everyone comes back from break on time and the babies are cared for by others while nurses are out. I can not imagine staff sleeping out in the unit. I think it is unprofessional to say the least.

Just curious, why do the babies need to be bathed before the Vit K? Thanks!

I have been the nurse that gets the report as well. That time I felt like I knew more of what is going on with the patient. However, if it is truly "my" admission, won't I be the one getting the babies vitals, getting the baby tucked in etc..? How do you do it in that case? I also loved your idea about reading what we put out for our parent's! I will definately look into that!

I am a new grad who recently passed boards and have been working in the NICU now for about 2 months. I am about two weeks from being out of orientation. I know I have grown so much over the past two months but I know I still have an overwhelming amount to learn. One particular area that I feel intimidated by is educating parents. I feel as though I am doing all I can to grasp what is going on, I feel very underqualified to educate them about what is going on. How did you handle this when you were new to the unit? I know I can grab a doc (which is probably most preferable) but are there certain areas that I should study and know well (common things that we will see on most babies)? If so, I would love some ideas. I do have my "brain" sheet down and feel rather good about organizing my time. I am able to keep up as long as things go as planned, but it would not take much to throw me off and I would be drowning. Also, how do you handle your admission process. In my unit, the nurses are extrmemly helpful to anyone who is admitting. I the few admissions that I have been apart of, someone takes the report from transport while I have gotten the baby settled in. I have found that while it is so nice, I feel as though I do not have the complete picture as to what has gone on with the kid. Any advice here? Thanks so much everyone. This site is truly invaluable!

Way to go Kalico!!! I just passed also. Tommorrow will be the first day I can sign my charting RN!! WAHOO!

Congrats Kelly!! I made it also! It is so good to have it behind me. I felt exactly like you. When I was in there I thought most of my questions were not too bad. The ones that I remembered were very specific and things that I missed. I started to get nervous and began to doubt my abilities. I used Saunders and also did the Kaplan course (my hospital paid for also) I don't really think Kaplan helped me that much. I did not really use many of the strategies, but I did use a few on questions that I did not have any idea about. I mainly used Saunders and did practice question after practice question. I could see the improvement that I made over the past 6 weeks since I began. It really helped me to retain the content. I learned so much. I also feel like it gave me a good feel for the questions. I say all of this to also encourage fellow test takers that it can be done! Good luck to you and always know you have a place for support and understanding. We will all be here when you are fretting over your number of questions and waiting for the magic words PASS!!!!!!!!!!! Best of luck!

"Before I entered the testing room the woman/proctor offered a pair of earplugs; I accepted and went to reach out to take the box. She pulled the box out of my reach and said "no, I need to give you just the earplugs...you can't take the box" - she then poured them into my hand. As if I may write all the questions out on this tiny 2X2 piece of cardboard - as if that was at all possible to get away with, with a video camera above my head...recording my every move. " :roll :rotfl: Oh, my that is too funny. Yep, sound just like my testing center, except they were rebels and let me keep my box. I am glad the test [EVIL][/EVIL]is over too. Two hours until results...

tic toc tic toc...

I think my state is slow to post. None of my friend's licenses are up yet. (for those that know they passed) I guess I am destined to wait :Crash: until the a.m. I just came in from trimming my hedges. So busy trying to keep my mind off of the wait. They turned out so nice I decided if I didn't pass there is always landscaping.:chuckle Thanks so much for the support.

Oh, how I can relate. Took my test at 0900 yesterday. I can't stand waiting. I want to know so bad. I have been trying to stay busy but it is very difficult to focus. I keep thinking about how mortified I will be if I failed at 75! This time tomorrow I will either be really happy or really sad!

Wahoo For You Penny!!!

Congrats, RN!

Congrats to you!

I would try Suzanne's program. I used it and find out Friday if I passed. She has a high success rate. Look at the Sticky posts at the top of the forum. Best wishes to you! How long ago did you test? I would give yourself a small break before you start preparing again.